If you want to know what the mindset of the Israeli government is, you need to read this interview. Mr. Arad is the chief security advisor of Mr. Netanyahu.

It is very clear that we are going back one full decade in the mindset of the Israelis. There is a total breakdown of any faith that the Middle East might change. Threats and suspicion are the most popular currency, feeding the tunnel vision of non-dialog. As you might say, not much has changed, and the Tribal and Identity politics continue being the trend.

The tribalism of the Middle East is so deeply ingrained, that it is practically part of the landscape. The Chamula (extended family) comes first, then the religion, and then the territory.

There is no wish to join the global community, or the global commons. Arabs and Jews alike find in the tribal fire a warm secluded place to get cozy. The world out there is too edgy and technical, and fraught with unknown dangers. No positive value in the all-embracing view of interdependence.

The Middle East needs to break out of this biblical mentality, that the world is only as important as the next water well, or the honor of your tribe.

I think 5000 years is enough…. ?

Today I head to the Middle East for an extended stay. David, we have worked together for the past six years and only blogging together for the past few months. But I look forward to continuing my dialogue with you from the region. I hope to gain different perspectives on life and culture in the Middle East as well as the political landscape in the region. Adieu!

The unique character of the revolt in Iran has been the power of the fast SMS/Twitter tools and the younger age group that used it. Those who grew up using their thumb as a main tool of communication  also know that they are breaking new grounds. There are no rules for this political game, and the modes of expression and their strategic models are written while hitting the ground.

The Iranian crowds are living through the "largest increase in expressive capability in human history," as defined by Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody.

Iranian youth know that the authorities can try to follow them, but they also know that fast and furious is the way to go. The authorities will always be a step behind.

The greatest effect of the whole phenomenon is that Iran has gained a new face. Instead of relating to Ahmadinejad as the only face of Iran, we now see a multitude of younger people. We have human rights movements that will make a difference for the future. The USA and Israel, which have often held a one-dimensional view of Iran, will have a new challenging set of questions to answer.

The recent re-election of Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has resulted in mass protests throughout Iran. Many Iranian protesters believe that the elections were rigged and that their reform candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi didn't get a fair play. Much of the news out of Iran has been focused on the clashes between police and protestors.

Although the Iranian regime has banned foreign coverage of these protests, Iranian citizens have quickly filled the void by providing some dramatic images of these protests. I commend the Iranian people's determination to tell their stories through new media. Iranians are blogging, tweeting and uploading videos of these protests. These citizen semi-journalists are serving as part advocate for their cause and part journalist to tell a wider public about their story. This may be the future of journalism as we know it.

Much like the American public wanted change in the 2008 elections, Iranian people wanted change in these elections. Americans got the change they demanded. Iranians didn't. Let's hope that these protests and the efforts of citizen semi-journalists can at least pressure the regime to become more accountable (and perhaps more democratic) to an increasingly frustrated public.

I disagree with your assessment that Obama just talked. At least in Israel there are political ramifications, as his speech is seen as a signal of a new approach to USA-Israel relations. The government is already changing their tone about the two state solutions. The settlement movement declared Obama public enemy number one. They relate to him as "nigger" – "Koshon" in Hebrew.

His speech is seen as a marker of a new attitude that will be followed by action, including freezing of the settlements and giving a real chance for the Palestinians to voice their view on the solution. Obama found the soft belly of Bibi Netanyahu’s government. Most Jews in the USA, and the Obama administration, do not have any understanding of the messianic dreams of the settlers.

However, it could be that I am too optimistic, as I believe that you should watch what politicians do and not what they say. Still, I think that your judgment does not give a reasonable time span or perspective for a new policy to happen.

I think that not only are the settlers afraid of him, but so are Al Qaeda. They notice that Obama presents the Muslim world with new options. He ruins the one-dimensional Bush view of the "axis of evil." Bush made Al Qaeda's work very easy as a recruiting tool. Obama challenges all of us, Jews, Muslims and Christians, to listen to the "other" point of view.

Well, it has been a week since Obama gave his historical speech to the Muslim world in the Mother of the World (Um Al Dunya) in Egypt. Now that the sand has settled and reactions have tempered, it is fair to say that although there was alot of optimism and hype surrounding his landmark speech, not much is going to change. While Muslims can appreciate President Obama for recognizing Islamic achievement throughout history and the need to re-engage based on mutual respect, it will be his actions that will ultimately be judged--particularly concerning the Arab-Israeli/Palestinian-Israeli conflict. 

Israel is continuing its settlements and its policy of displacement. On today's Mosaic, Syria TV reports that a Palestinian man was forced to demolish his home with his own hands so that he would be spared the cost of having to pay for an Israeli bulldozer to do it. Israeli settlers are erecting Obama huts to protest President Obama's calling for a two-state solution and a halt to settlement building. Meanwhile, the Palestinians continue to bicker among themselves over who has the right to represent a people who are becoming more impoverished and more hopeless with every passing day. Arab leaders continue to prove their ineffectiveness as they watch from the sidelines waiting for their cue from Washington, or better yet, Tel Aviv.

Well so much for big talk and small action!

The reaction to the recent nationalist trend in the Israeli parliament has been very negative. As a result, the initiative to make life harder for the Palestinian–Israeli citizens was canceled.

See this YNetnews update for more details.

Still, the undercurrent of total polarization between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Israeli citizens will get stronger. Unless President Obama will signal a new beginning in his speech on the 4th of June, the peace process is frozen.

Polarization will get worse.

David, I agree with you it is a shame that such laws are being implemented in Israel. I share in your outrage. Consecutive Israeli governments have long been annexing Palestinian lands since 1948 and annexing Palestinian culture (i.e. Israeli hummus?) as well as re-writing  history. This is all part of Al Nakba of 1948 (The Catastrophe in Arabic), which Palestinians remember. Israel has been demolishing Palestinian homes for settlement building, razing graveyards, agricultural lands and historical sites. This, in addition to incursions, house invasions, assassinations and bombings, etc. Death and destruction on both sides, committed by both sides. All smaller Nakbas that are ultimately connected to Al Nakba. With this latest move, Israel attempts to further erase Palestinian identity in the country by not allowing the Palestinians to commemorate their own history as they see it.  I am comforted by the fact that Palestinians everywhere will never forget their history or their past. Many of them still hold the key to their homes, which have been either destroyed or taken over.  They dream of the day when they or their children will return to their homeland.

This is an Al Jazeera report that tells the story of the Nakba very well.  

Israel cabinet decided to pass a legal initiative that would give a 3 year prison sentence to anyone who treats the Nakba of 1948 as a special event. This is an outrageous idea: it is the sum of the hopes of the Israeli Nationalists that the Palestinian minority in Israel will somehow disappear. It expresses a total denial of Palestinian history.

This compliments the denial of the Holocaust, which Israel has fought for the last 60 years. Denial of your history means that either you are an inventor of gas ovens, or you are just a victim of your own victimization complex. Denial of the right to express your mourning over events that happened to your family and many other people is a cruel and unusual punishment.

This is such a debasing ministerial call that Israelis of all walks of life should be ashamed of. It takes away the right of Jews to fight against Holocaust denial. The Turks have tried it against the Armenian minority: no mention was allowed of any massacre of Armenians by Turks. Of course the ban collapsed, and the Turks look worse for it. This is a bankruptcy of any moral standing by the present Israeli cabinet, and will make it easier for all the enemies of Israel to justify that another war as the only way. If your existence and history is denied, what do you have to lose?

Visit www.haaretz.com for more on this.

Anyone who watched to Pope and the mixed reactions he recieved from Jews and Muslims, is probably wondering how many Christians are left in Palestine. What is the future of Christians in the Middle East?

The influence of national poltical parties is shrinking, and movements like the Muslim brotherhood and others are gaining power. As the Middle East has turned against the influence of Western-based culture and politics, more and more Christians have turned to immigration as a solution. Christians have left Palestine, out and away from the Israeli occupation, but also in other countries they feel diminished, and are struggling with their identity, which was a National-Patriot based identity and not religion based. The green flag waving over many demonstrations and meetings in the Middle East begs the question if, as a minority, are they really welcome? See the mass slaughter of Pigs in Egypt which followed the Swine Flu. The Copts in Egypt are a tiny minority tolerated as garbage collectors. The slaughter of the pigs cleary did not happen for medical reasons.

For me, the question is what do Muslims in the Arab world know about Christianity? What are the similarites between Christian ignorance about Islam in the West and ignorance about other religions in the Middle East?